Doomchained

Imagine a scenario where centralised silos of information from this era have disappeared in a calamity. When future historians uncover records in the widely distributed crypto currency ledgers they reassemble an image of lives lived. A ‘Doomsday Blockchain’.

“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. We can now revise that and witness the attempt to imagine capitalism by way of imagining the end of the world”. Fredric Jameson (2013)

As a collective of four; designers, educators, technologists and theorists, we are seeking opportunities to develop and test metaphors for the blockchain that can resonate with the public and present opportunities for public research and improved understanding. 

We applied to the Collusion Commisions for development and support to advance our shared interests and examine how the blockchain has already been utilised and abused, it’s currently not known how many hidden traces are yet to be discovered.  Collusion invited artists to come forward with proposals that situate creativity at the heart of digital culture. “We want to hear from diverse voices with new ideas.” 

DDBC addresses the theme of ‘data culture’ by exploring and visualising the Bitcoin blockchain as a tangible artefact,  a universal blockchain ‘tuner’ for exhibition and personal use. The current financial value of Bitcoin is currently 95 billion dollars with 14 million wallets in use. Yet, the aim of this project is to engage with the blockchain not as a financial tool but as a social and cultural artefact that is forming the first publically owned supercomputer. It’s patterns and affordances are shaping our political forms of organisation and conforming a lasting record of our daily lives.

As active individuals we each have long term investment in ‘free research’ over a wide range of interests as well as experience with UK, international commercial and academic environments. Together we look forward to an intensification of exchange and wider sharing of knowledge publicly.

Dr. Christian Nold is known for his large-scale participatory mapping projects that have been run in 16 countries and involved thousands of participants, with Bio Mapping and currency activism such as Bijlmer Euro. He is based at UCL and currently managing an EU funded project on participatory and DIY science.

Alexei Blnov is a free researcher working out of Raylab in Haggerston, London. A well known and experienced I/O specialist with a passion for high voltage and radio frequency experimentation. Currently researching electro stimulation of neural feedback and blockchain resourcing.

Daniela Boraschi is an information designer and academic and has worked for a world-leading publisher designing science books for young audiences. She has collaborated with Nold as designer on the Stockport Map and Brentford Biopsy. Today she is today researching the history of evidence in cancer screening and teaches Media Studies at the University of Essex.

James Stevens is the founder member of SPC and lives in Deptford, London. His  enthusiasm for social exchange characterise many aspects of this work, never shy to facilitate the grand ambitions and support embryonic initiative of others with patience, experience and resourcefulness. He continues to interweave these many threads into a self-sustaining infrastructure, supporting domestic and public life in continuity with family, long term collaborators and fresh interactions alike.

Review on going research reports Ice-Scraper and Shards of Sharing.

Contact the collective by email ddbc@spc.org or keep your eyes on the ico’s!

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